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Is China a bully? If you stopped the average person in the street
and asked this question, the answer would probably be a resounding
‘YES’. Why? A bully is defined as: Someone who habitually seeks to
harm or intimidate those whom they perceive as vulnerable.
So how could China be a bully?

A week or so ago, we discussed the union bashing disguised
as concern for ‘essential workers’ from LNP MPs Andrew Laming
and Peter Dutton. Unfortunately, the pitiful behaviours exhibited by
these two LNP politicians is not reserved to the outer suburbs of Brisbane.

You may have seen Federal MP Andrew Laming’s comment in the
media recently suggesting that parents send their children back to
school, regardless of the recommendations of the various Education
Departments around Australia. The ABC’s version of the story is here.

How many times have we questioned the mental status of POTUS Trump?
It was as far back as November 2016 that we began to do so with
Let’s welcome President Trump. Even then, Michael Moore expressed
his doubts about Trump’s surprise election and predicted, albeit incorrectly

It seems Australia’s success so far in reducing the impacts of COVID 19 has
a lot to do with the co-ordinated efforts of the various state governments and
the federal government. Comparisons to other countries with similar qualities of
life demonstrate Australians are experiencing less Coronavirus related illness and death.

Have you ever noticed there are some ‘special people’ in our society
that are always hustling to gain a sniff of an advantage? With the current
restrictions on life as we (used to) know it accepted by the majority of
Australians in an effort to prevent a far worse tragedy, our hustlers seem
to be lining up to demonstrate their complete lack of regard for the rest of us.

The Political Sword

Those of you who hear experts describe in frightening terms the dire state of our economy, and then hear the faux reassurances that issue from the mouths of our Treasurer and Prime Minister, must wonder if they live in some parallel universe, where, reminiscent of Humpty Dumpty, words can mean anyth...

Frequently, when presented with a problem, we attempt to treat the symptom rather than the real issue. For example, if every morning when you get in your car you notice that one of the tyres looks a bit flat, you could treat the symptom by calling in at the nearest petrol station and putting more ai...

Make no mistake – Dutton’s thirst for power remains unquenched. His conviction that he is ‘the better man’ to be prime minister continues unabated. This piece argues that in pursuit of this lofty goal, he has now consciously embarked on a process best described as ‘Duttonisation’.
Let me explain....

And that has nothing to do with fuel marketing cycles that seem to afflict larger cities around the country, the cost of importing fuel because the multi-national refining companies have determined it is not economic to produce fuel in Australia or any one of the hundreds of other theories of why it...

You’ve probably heard politicians and commentators suggest that various acts should be undertaken because ‘they’ve got a mandate’. One of the recent examples is new Environment Minister Angus Taylor claiming there is now a ‘mandate’ for a lack of any meaningful action on managing climate change in A...

I could commence this piece by debating why slogans influence voters, no matter how tiresome, no matter how monotonous. But why bother? We know they work. Why bother to question their use, or scorn those who use them? It is surely more practical to examine how to use them creatively. This piece is j...

The Coalition can’t manage money. No, that’s not a misprint. The conventional wisdom, peddled by the Coalition, aided and abetted by opinion polls that always rate the Coalition ahead of Labor in managing the economy, is that ‘Labor can’t manage money’. During the election campaign, that was echoed ...

Political extremism generally doesn’t condone rape, murder or shootings to achieve stated aims, however it does promote that there is no tolerance for differing opinions or compromise.
A common statement from the conservative forces leading up to the last election was that the Australian Greens wer...

The recent election was an exercise in marketing and not much else. Morrison promoted himself and ‘good economic management’ rather than the Coalition while flitting around the country handing out dollars to ‘deserving’ infrastructure projects, usually in marginal seats.
Shorten’s ALP had, by cont...

It’s not just Labor supporters who are asking these questions. Everyone is.
The polls are unable to provide an answer. They proved to have no predictive value. Psephologists explain that since pollsters have changed their sampling techniques in the face of changes to communications technology, th...

Now that the election is over it is time for a bit of reflection. Logistics behind the operation of this site mean this article is not a who won what and why; rather we’ll be looking at why a number of the smaller parties seem to have punched above their weight, and some possible reasons for their ‘...

It wasn’t easy getting into the nerve centre of the LNP – the secret place where talking points, election strategies and day to day tactics are brainstormed by the Coalition’s eggheads in the dead of night – but eventually, more by good luck than good management, I found myself in the inner sanctum....

We all have memories of a child bawling its eyes out after being clobbered by another kid. We also have memories of the offender’s customary excuse: ‘He hit me first!’. We tend to label such behaviour as ‘kids stuff’.
But how many of you expected grown-up politicians to ape them?
Yet they do...

Enjoying the election coverage?
Essentially it is the day to day analysis of the political leaders of this country racking up the kilometres to appear in ‘strategic’ locations, with nodding sycophants behind them answering the same or similar questions as they did yesterday to the same tired and b...

I was motivated to write my last piece: ’Will they ever learn?’ after viewing the first Question Time of the recent sitting of the House of Representatives. Some our most senior politicians, immediately after showing that they were capable of courtesy and decent discourse, went on to display offensi...

In 2016, we published 36 Faceless men, comparing the ‘need’ for Australian political parties to have an absolute majority when forming a government versus the preferred outcome in other countries where a coalition of political parties have to work together to form a government.
Three years ago we ...

Will they ever learn? After watching the first Question Time of the most recent sitting of the House of Representatives, the only plausible answer to that question is a resounding NO.
On April 2, parliament resumed after a brief recess to enable the Budget for the next year to be tabled, a necess...

While Shakespeare may have ‘popularised’ the term, the ‘ides of March’ goes back to Roman times when March was the beginning of the year (giving the excuse for celebration and prayers that the new year would be prosperous) until 55 days were added in 46BC. Two years later ‘dictator for life’ Julius ...

Unlike the residents of the USA, a lot of whom probably wouldn’t have been able to point to New Zealand on a map three months ago, we shouldn’t have been surprised at the consideration for others demonstrated by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the past few weeks. Ardern has on a number ...

Stan Grant is an outstanding journalist. His capacity to undertake brilliantly forensic analyses and thereby discern meaning within the tumult of contemporary political behaviour sets him apart from most of his colleagues. So good are his political credentials that our PM invited him to enter politi...

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Is China a bully?Is China a bully? If you stopped the average person in the street and asked this question, the answer would probably be a resounding ‘YES’. Why? A bully is defined as: Someone who habitually seeks to harm or intimidate those whom they perceive as vulnerable. So how could China be a bully? ‘China’ ... 1/06/2020

Give us a breakA week or so ago, we discussed the union bashing disguised as concern for ‘essential workers’ from LNP MPs Andrew Laming and Peter Dutton. Unfortunately, the pitiful behaviours exhibited by these two LNP politicians is not reserved to the outer suburbs of Brisbane.... 25/05/2020

People that live in glass housesYou may have seen Federal MP Andrew Laming’s comment in the media recently suggesting that parents send their children back to school, regardless of the recommendations of the various Education Departments around Australia. The ABC’s version of the story is here.... 18/05/2020

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